OVER 150 YEARS COMBINED SERVICE

THE COMPANY

QSS was founded by Barry Hunt and Ken Thompson over a hand shake at dinner one night in 1985. They both believed they could create a unique business in the steel distribution industry. Their goal was to provide the best available products to Queensland customers with a premium level of customer service. This has been the premise in which QSS’s client focused culture is still built on today.

The company was officially established on the 5th of December 1985. Ken and Barry started their little dream in a humble shed on Kingsford Smith Drive in March 1986, which showcased a dirt floor and a small site van as their office. They would personally drive orders to customers all over Brisbane and beyond, which is something our Sales Reps still do today.

THE COMPANY

After two years, the landlord wanted to lay concrete floors and with their steep demand for a rental increase, QSS decided to move in April 1987. Ken, Barry and their office caravan moved to shed 34 at the Wool Sheds at Hendra. QSS was starting to grow and with this they continued their journey to make QSS a leader in the Queensland market.

In September 1993 came the biggest challenge for QSS when we purchased the first warehouse at 70 St Achs, Nudgee. The small site van came along for the ride and QSS began to grow, including our staff numbers. Sadly, in 1995 Ken Thompson lost his battle with cancer. During this difficult time, Barry kept the dream going and carried on business as usual.

THE COMPANY

In December 2004, after 19 years in business, QSS’s stable and consistent growth, was rewarded with a further move to an impressive new and even larger warehouse at 25 Savage St., Pinkenba. Over the period of 8 years, the warehouse was extended twice! By this stage, QSS was well known in the industry for its service and its dedication in ensuring our customers always came first.

In December 2015, QSS reached another major milestone - its 30 year anniversary. Throughout this time, our valued team members had become family, with some of them hitting 20, 15 and 10 years of service.

THE COMPANY

QSS has taken the next step in our journey and in 2016 we moved to our new (and larger) premises at 25 Savage St, Pinkenba, with a full drive around facility we have been able to improved our logistics and service capabilities. QSS has reached these milestones through the drive, ambition and determination set out by our founders. QSS has been able to sustain its success because of our committed and dedicated team members. One of Barry’s favourite mottos has always been, ‘it’s not the mistakes you make, moreover it’s how you rectify them that is important’. We will continue to work to his example and always strive for excellence.

2017 and beyond is a new chapter for QSS. After over 30 years building the business to what it is today, Barry has decided to take a step back from the day to day operations and "semi-retire".

Barry has been, and always will be a pillar of strength for QSS and has overseen the implementation of many of the exciting and new improvements over the last few years.

Barry has been able to make this decision with the full support of his Daughter Cecily stepping in to the business some time ago, "keeping the family business running" is the goal. With the full support of Brett Charters (General Manager) and the rest of the awesome QSS team, we are excited about the future and what we can do for our customers.

"the handshake that started it all"

"Peter Salmon was one of our first employees and worked for QSS for over 20 years"

"Gloria (Barry’s wife) was always there at the end of the month"

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Queensland Steel & Sheet was established in 1985 and has been operating for over 30 years. We base our company values on good quality products and exceptional service and will continue to do the best we can for our customers. Our staff are like family and we have a number of staff that have been working for QSS for over 20, 15 and 10 years which ensures we build the best connections to our customers.